


A Brother's Grave

by Miranda_tries_their_best



Series: Digging Graves Without Filling Them [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Backstory, Blood Drinking, Brotherly Angst, Choking, Grave digging, Guilt, Morally Neutral Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Past Addiction, Remus has done and will do some messed up things, Roman is dead for a hot sec but he's fine now, Temporary Character Death, Vampire Turning, Vampires, but he loves his brother, not really but almost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:42:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24403756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miranda_tries_their_best/pseuds/Miranda_tries_their_best
Summary: Roman is dead but Remus doesn't accept that, he's willing to face Roman's wrath for leaving him all those years ago if it means his brother is okay.Backstory on Remus and Roman from the main story of Symbiotic.Spoilers sorta if you haven't read the main story but also this could probably be read alone since it takes place in the past.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Series: Digging Graves Without Filling Them [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762249
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36





	A Brother's Grave

Cold stiff fingers dig through soft dirt deep in the night, the moon is hidden behind clouds and would be too dark for mortal eyes but a brother is kneeling over the grave of his twin and frantically digging into the earth.

If the man wasn't what he was, he's sure that his fingers would be bleeding by now as he scoops handful after handful of soil out of a still fresh grave but he doesn't stop, even as his nails chip back and the occasional rock cuts his palms.

Remus thought that staying away would save Roman, he thought that he was giving his brother time to heal but look at him now. Three years after Remus ran from the mess he made and his brother is six feet under in a fancy coffin but due to Remus, the six feet becomes five, three, one foot-

He bangs his hand against the wood suddenly, hissing out a curse he dents the coffin and probably his finger bones too but not pausing to clear away the rest of the dirt and lifting up the top part to look at the pale face of his brother.

Remus laughs, something manic as he reaches out to touch Roman's face, brushing some of the loose dirt away while accidentally smearing him with some. "I'm home." Remus giggles out, ignoring how his eyes burn with tears. Roman almost looks like he's sleeping, eyes shut and hands linked over his stomach. He's too pale though, almost gray as all the warmth left from his mortal body. Roman is older now too, Remus's face stayed frozen the day he turned but Roman has continued to grow for the five years it's been since Remus's turning.

They hadn't looked so different when Remus left, two years didn't change much but apparently three did as it's a little more clear who the older twin is now.

Remus doesn't know if he should really do this, he doesn't know if Roman would want this, doesn't know if Roman won't hate him for everything he's done but Remus can't lose his brother like this even if Roman wakes up to immediately kill him.

There's a chance that Roman's been dead too long to be turned but Remus doesn't think about that as he chomps his fangs into his wrist and pries open his brother's jaw with his free hand and pressed the bleeding bite mark against Roman's mouth, he massages his throat to make sure his dead brother swallows it all and only pulls back when his wrist naturally heals.

Remus's heartbeats are slow but loud in his ears as he sits on the bottom half of a coffin and waits for any sign of life, any twitch of movement. "Rise and shine, younger older brother." Remus pats the side of Roman's face after a few minutes of silence. "Maybe not rise and shine, going into the sun is gonna hurt like a bitch from now on."

Roman is dead, vampires who are turned after death don't have heartbeats bit Remus keeps straining to listen for it, wants to hear the rhythm he's heard since they were kids. "I get your mad but if you wake up you can punch me." Remus offers like that'll make any difference. "I know you like your beauty sleep but you'll attract maggots like this."

Roman has to wake up but continues to lay still. "C'mon, Ro." Remus has never turned anyone before but feeding his blood into a body drained of blood should be enough and Roman can't have any less blood at this point. "I know I shouldn't have left but I was hurting you. Please wake up." Remus pleads. "I'm sorry, okay?! Wake up and be angry! Cry! Do something! Anyth-" Remus freezes and shuts up.

Roman's eyes moved under his eyelids, his fingers tighten around each other, small barely recognizable movements but Remus sees them and lets himself breathe out in relief.

Remus reaches down and holds his brother's hand as Roman's body starts spasming in the coffin, Remus's blood taking effect and changing Roman. Remus knows that turning hurts, it burns as it fills up every vein with cursed blood and reshapes you into something darker, he can only imagine how much worse it is now that the blood has to fix all the dead tissue and expel whatever preservatives they pumped into Roman's corpse before burying him. Remus can't help him with this but he stays and watches, let's Roman's hand crush his in a death grip.

It feels like hours before Roman takes his first breath of life again and it's immediately followed by a scream that echoes into the night, it hurts Remus's ears but he stays put and holds his brother's hand until the scream tapers off into a gasp for air and Roman's eyes finally open.

(It's weird. Remus got the same green eyes as his sire but Roman's once brown eyes are now a glowing blood red.)

"Have a nice dirt nap?" Is the thing Remus says to his brother after three years of silence but it snaps Roman's attention to him.

Roman looks at him, still panting for air that he doesn't actually need anymore. His pupils are shrunk into dots, hazy and feral looking as he stares into Remus.

It's all the warning Remus needs to yank his hand back before he can be properly gripped and scrambles out of the grave before beast controlling Roman can figure out how to use it's new body. He dashes to the edge of the cemetery, only pausing once he's sitting on top of the stone wall to check on his brother.

Roman is only just crawling out of the grave on shaky arms and claws that dig into the earth. "Remus." He lifts his head to gives the younger twin an animalistic growl before he shoots off towards him.

Remus gives him until he's several meters away from the wall before he hops over the other side and takes off into the woods. He's been told by other vampires that his bloodline has the tendency to be feral upon their awakening, supposedly Remus had also gone feral if his late sire was to be believed but Remus didn't remember any of it so he takes the fact that Roman is cognizant to recognize him as a good sign.

This is normal. Remus reminds himself as he ducks through the trees, Roman follows right behind him, snarling like a rabid dog and just as pissed as one. Remus isn't going his full speed, needs to stay slow so that Roman stays focused on him, and doesn't go hunting for anything human.

This can only go on for so long though, eventually, Remus figures they're far enough into the woods that no one's at risk so he lets himself slow down and is near immediately slammed into by the force of Roman charging at him.

Maybe Roman isn't as feral as he thought because he flips Remus around and wraps his hands around his throat. It's such a human gesture that it actually confused Remus until Roman squeezes his neck and Remus realizes that Ro is trying to strangle him.

Roman's trying to strangle him, it's absolutely hilarious that he thinks that would work. Remus would laugh except that while he doesn't need to breathe to live, he does need to breathe to make noise so it only comes out as a gargling choked noise.

Suddenly Roman's off him and several feet away from him and Remus doesn't feel like laughing anymore because Roman's eyes are wide and tears falling like waterfalls. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Roman is shaking as Remus sits up to look at his cowering brother who was just looking like murder incarnate just a few moments ago.

"Eh, don't worry, I'm into it," Remus says instead of addressing that actual issue here because Roman's disgusted and angry face is less distressing than his scared one but unfortunately his jokes don't seem to affect his brother's panicked state. "Ro, it's fine." He tries in a much softer zone which thankfully does draw Roman's attention.

Roman's emotions seem to flicker from pain, grief, anger, sadness, Remus can see it all in his eyes but ultimately his brother seems to settle on betrayal. "What did you do to me?" He tries to seem strong but Remus can see the way he trembles, he's sure Roman's heart would be pounding if it would just start beating again.

"You died," Remus says, probably a bit too bluntly given how Roman's eyes widen. "I brought you back." He figures it's easier to get this out of the way, let Roman work out his emotions quickly.

"I was..." Roman swallows. "I was in a coffin." The newly turned vampire clutches at his dress shirt. "I was- I'm dead."

"Undead actually, slightly more dead than me but-"

"You shut up!" Roman snaps and Remus clicks his jaw shut. "You- I can't believe you!" Roman finally moves, pushing himself off the ground to stand while Remus remains sitting. "How could you do this?!"

Remus keeps his head down and picks at the dirt, he hates it when Roman cries but at least this is an angry crying instead of a desperate crying. "You were dead, I couldn't just let you..." Remus couldn't just let him die, all this would have been for nothing if Roman just died like that.

"Couldn't what?!" Roman doesn't see it that way though. "You already left me behind, you had no right to decide my fate!"

That makes Remus snap his head up. "I was helping you!" He hisses out, pushing himself up off the ground to meet his brother's eyes. "Did you want me to just let you stay dead?! How about a thank you, you gigantic dick!"

"Thank-" Roman scoffs, eyes burning bright like fire in his rage. "You expect me to 'thank' you? You don't care about me!" Roman accuses and stalks forward. "You never have! It's all just one big joke to you, isn't it? How many times have you done this to me? How many times are you going to hurt me!?"

"I never meant to." Remus loses any of the defense he may have had. "I was just-"

"Just what?!" Roman shoves him back and Remus lets himself stumble, not raising a hand against his brother. Remus made a lot of mistakes when they were young but they put that behind them and even if Roman doesn't see it, Remus won't fall back into those habits. "Just got me addicted to your venom and ditch me with the withdrawals when you got bored of whatever fucked up prank you thought it was?!"

Remus tries to say something but Roman shoves him back once more and he loses his words as his back hits the tree.

"Now you're back and you turned me into the same- the same monster you are. Is this funny?!" Roman doesn't move any closer. Instead, he uses his sleeve go rub the tears from his eyes. "Is this just hilarious to you?"

"I didn't-" Remus swallows the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry, I didn't know about the venom." Remus wishes he could cry like Roman, maybe that would make him seem more sincere, maybe if he could cry then the guilt could stop festering inside his chest. "I just- I thought we were getting along finally, I was never told about the venom or I never bit you again."

The first bite was an accident, Remus wanted to test how long he could go without blood and didn't about how dangerous that might be for his very human brother living with him.

"How could you not know?" Roman glares at him but it's more tired and weak than before. "How did you not realize what you were doing?"

The second time, Remus had asked Roman for help. He knew that even while he was feral on bloodlust that something in him stopped him from taking too much blood from his brother and he didn't want to go out and risk people's lives.

"My sire died," Remus admits that part without guilt, the old fuck deserved the death Remus gave him. "He didn't get to teach me anything. I just thought we were finally on the same page, I didn't know."

The third time, Roman came to him and offered his wrist. Roman said he wanted to help him and keep him and others safe, this seemed like the safest option, and Remus agreed.

"Then why did you leave?" The anger melts from Roman's expression but he still holds onto the pain. "Why didn't you just talk to me?"

It had taken almost two years for Remus to figure it out. Roman had left to visit his beau in another town, he was supposed to be gone for two weeks but returned after only one sickly and begging Remus to bite him, to make the pain stop.

"I-" Remus looks down at the dirt under their feet. "I got scared."

Remus didn't get affected by much, he didn't care when he held Marc's head under the water too long when they were six, he didn't care when he found a dead squirrel and left it on Roman's bed when they were ten, he didn't care that Adri out of a tree and broke their arm when they were sixteen.

He'd probably do all that again.

But Roman, his brave little brother who always explained it him why he couldn't do those things to people, who made him apologize and helped him make sorry gifts for the people he hurt until he realized what he did had actually hurt people, the Roman who promised to protect him when he came home covered in the cursed blood of his sire like Remus hadn't just killed someone, had looked at him while trembling and in pain and had begged for Remus to hurt him more.

"I was hurting you after I promised I wouldn't and you kept asking me to do it more and I didn't know what else to do." Remus grips his hair, tugging on the locks as he stares past Roman. "I thought if I left then I couldn't hurt you anymore but you- you died." Roman died, Roman died because Remus wasn't there to protect him. "I get it if you hate me but I couldn't just let you rot, I should have been there, I should have saved you, I-I should have-"

Remus cuts off as arms are wrapped around him and Roman pulls him into a tight hug, Remus practically melts. Roman's arms are still cold and there's no heartbeat to listen to but Remus is able to hug back and rest his head on his brother's shoulder without any instinct to bite and that's enough.

"I'm sorry." Remus mumbles. "I should have been there."

"You should have." Roman's chest rumbles as he speaks. "I'm still angry, I don't forgive you and I don't trust you but-" Roman swallows loudly and Remus is sure that he's still crying. "Stay this time."

Remus only gives a nod, he's not letting Roman stumble through this without a guide like he did. Roman will never have to accidentally stumble into the sun without thinking, Roman will never have to either go hungry or risk someone's life because he doesn't know how much he can take, Roman will never accidentally poison someone he cares about into being his thrall, he'll never have to rely on the word of strangers that share his curse about how things work, he'll never feel the burn of silver, he'll never-

"Rems-!" Roman squeaks out. "Too tight!"

Remus quickly lets his arms go slack, not realizing how much his grip had tightened as he was thinking. "Weak." He still says though.

"Sorry I don't enjoy my spine snapping." Roman grumbles before pausing. "Am I taller than you?" That makes Remus let go completely, straighten his back to realize that Roman did have an inch on him. "Oh my goodness, I am taller!"

"No way!" Roman is way too smug about that so Remus punches him in the arm, glad he doesn't need to hold back as much strength now that Roman's vampiric body can take more of a beating. "You're in fancy corpse shoes."

Roman laughs and shoves Remus back for the punch. "Yes way." He takes a moment to wipe the year track from his face. "There isn't that much heel on these, _little_ brother. I'm totally taller."

Remus hisses and lunges at his brother only to be sidestepped as instinct makes Roman move, the sudden movement takes both of them by surprise as Roman was rarely ever fast enough to dodge Remus before. Good, now the lesser twin can actually put up a fight. "See how tall you are when I steal your kneecaps."

**Author's Note:**

> I keep writing instead of sleeping... And like, I'm not complaining or anything but why does this never happen when I want it to


End file.
